Without a healthy private sector economy that offers a future of advancement & stability, public education will continue to fail our children. I don't blame parents, I blame the politicians that have led us to a life of government dependance at the expense of a robust private sector economy.

You are right however, the superintendent , teachers and school committee are helpless.

I dare you to drive from Georgia to Massachusetts, with the same legal weapons & ammo (in Georgia) , and not innocently violate dozens of laws as you pass through each state. Every state has their own gun laws and most states do not reciprocate licensing from another state. Additionally, federal gun laws complicate transportation between states even more.

What will the new bridge look like? Has anyone seen an architect's rendering? Will the bridge dimensions change? Will there be three lanes like the present bridge? What will the new bridge be constructed with?

Exactly. This is the newspaper's clarion call to appoint a new Superintendent that will be just another incestuous insider. A demand to appoint a local who is pliable, probably white, and firmly attached to Springfield's power establishment.

Appointing a professional "outsider" threatens Springfield's powerful elite and it reveals just how small-minded Springfield has become. This city has failed, in so many ways, because they resist outside influence and this is rigidly promoted and reinforced by the Republican newspaper.

Politicians and parochial leadership have created the Springfield we have today. Springfield has become an Appalachian stereotype. The city is dysfunctional; white leadership and newspaper are racist. It's been 50 years of inbred failure. Springfield desperately needs outside leadership. Godspeed, Mr. Ingram.

If there's no consensus as to who, what, when, where, how & why our nation arrived at this economic debacle then how can we expect to find a solution? Government has grown so complex and has wormed its way into so many aspects of our daily lives, I don't think a solution exists.

When you have children attending public school, your community assumes a new identity than it did when you had fewer family responsibilities. Crime, education & property investment suddenly become really important.

I hope he campaigns on an increase in gas tax. This is proving how detached Massachusetts politicians have become of life in the "trenches". The swell of voter anger that brought Brown to the U.S. Senate will continue to decimate Democrats until they recognize how regressive and damaging incessant tax increases are.

This will introduce government rental units to neighborhoods without rentals. This will further erode prices for those of us still paying mortgages and maintaining our properties. This plan has disaster plastered all over it.

He's lying. He had no plans to bond for the Senior Center this September. Even the interest rate projections he's thrown out is absurd.

To bond and build the new Senior Center the entire Facemate factory building must first be remediated of hazardous waste and then torn down. Then the land that Facemate sat on must be remediated of hazardous waste. Then the city must design a new Senior Center. Then finally the city can bond the money it needs to build the new Senior Center. None of these steps have happened, but every year for the last 5 years, he proclaims "this year" for the new Senior Center.

The Safety Complex project has not even been site selected or designed yet.

Bissonnette gets another pass because the news media is blissfully ignorant of how government works, they're absurdly gullible and they're too lazy to fact check.